In the last 11 years, school buses have been involved in an average of 26,000 accidents each year, according to the NASS-GES (National Automotive Sampling System-General Estimates System) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During this same period, an average of 19 school-age children have been killed in accidents labeled “By Own Bus.” Over the last 30 years, the record is even worse: During that period, an average of one child in the U.S. has been killed by his or her own bus each school week (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2000).
Children are at the greatest risk in what is known as the “Danger Zone,” a ten foot area on each side of the bus. A child who has fallen under their bus, has unthinkingly crawled under the bus to retrieve a dropped item, or has been caught by an article of clothing under the right side of the bus cannot be seen by the driver of the bus.
One child was caught by the handrail of a bus on the drawstring of her coat, dragged 50 feet and then run over and killed. Another child was dragged 3–4 feet and lived, suffering a broken leg. Another child was caught by his mitten string, dragged, and run over and killed. A child who escaped unharmed had crawled under the bus to place a milk carton in front of the right rear tire, in order to watch the bus crush it. The driver counted one child short and went to look. (Congressional Record Vol 141, No. 62, 1995).
In all these cases, the child in peril was invisible to the driver, despite the existence of six mirrors on most school buses. State laws typically require bus drives to be buckled, and the most dangerous area near the right rear tire cannot be seen by the bus driver from his or her seat.
In light of these tragedies, the National Safety Transportation Association, National Association for Pupil Transportation recommends the following life saving procedures: “Before moving your bus know where the children are who have just disembarked. Don't move until you're certain you know where they are. If you have lost track of a child, do not move the bus, shut off and secure the bus, take the key, get out, and check around and underneath the bus. Err on the side of caution.”
Although these recommendations make sense, and have undoubtedly saved lives on many occasions, experienced bus drivers point out that leaving a bus may not be practical in some instances: With 60 children on a bus, leaving the bus invites the possibility that one of the unruly children will bully and hurt another child or even release the emergency brake. In addition, experienced bus drivers report that an outbreak of hitting and yelling in the back of the bus often requires the driver to look back in the bus to check on the present danger that someone is being hurt. Such a distraction often makes it difficult or impossible to keep accurate count of the children who have left the bus. Anyone who has ridden a school bus regularly will recall such distractions. Drivers report that a group of children sometimes becomes so uncontrollable that the drivers' only recourse is to radio the dispatcher to send for the police to remove the offenders.
An additional problem comes when other drivers pass illegally on the right of the bus. Surprising as it may seem, impatient drivers who pass on the right side of the bus also cause the deaths of school children. Even when children are not involved, a car pulling up on the right side of the bus may be unnoticed if it stops in the area not visible from the driver's seat. Seeing that the way appears clear for a right turn, the bus driver may turn into, and damage, the stopped vehicle.
In contrast to previous attempts to provide visibility of the area near the right rear tire, the applicant has found that a large circular forward-looking mirror mounted at the right rear of the bus allows the driver to see the most critical areas on the right side of the bus, areas not previously visible from the driver's seat. In combination with the standard large rear view mirror on the right side of the bus, the new mirror makes it possible to see a child who has partially slipped under the bus, or to see a child who is caught on the bus by his mitten string, or to see an automobile that has moved into the blind area on the right side of the bus. In further combination with a large stop sign with blinking stop lights on the back of the subject mirror, the driver considering passing on the right has additional notice that such action is illegal when the bus is stopped.